Taxi hitman gets hefty sentence for murder

The Polokwane High Court has recently sentenced a taxi hitman to a lengthy jail term for various offences.

Samuel Tshilambavhuma, 39, will be incarcerated for 39 years before he can apply for parole, and he was also declared unfit to possess a firearm, Review Online reported.

His sentence included:
– Life imprisonment for murder.
– 30 years’ imprisonment for two counts of attempted murder.
– Six years’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of fire arm.
– Three years’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of ammunition.

This sentence emanated from an incident where Danny Baloyi, 39, from Diepsloot, was attacked and shot dead by Tshilambavhuma together with his accomplice (who is still on the run) at Ga-Madiba village outside Mokopane in 2004.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said Baloyi, who was a taxi operator in Mokopane, took his minibus for repairs at a scrapyard while he was still waiting for his vehicle to be fixed, the two accused entered the yard and began firing shots randomly to everyone inside the scrapyard.

Baloyi was killed instantly.

“During that shooting, a man and a woman who also brought their vehicles for repairs, were shot and sustained serious injuries,” explains Ngoepe.

He said the brutal killing of the deceased was orchestrated by conflict between two taxi associations in the Mokopane area.

“The two accused were hired from the Gauteng Province to come and assassinate him,” says Ngoepe.

Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nneke Ledwaba commended the provincial detectives for the job well done, especially on taxi-related conflict, which he says is still a problem in Limpopo.

“The general has also cautioned all individuals and taxi associations who are still involved in any form of taxi-related violence or conflict, to desist from doing so as the police will leave no stone unturned in curbing this scourge,” Ngoepe concluded.

– Caxton News Service

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